Sunday, March 19, 2017

Weekend Observations: Musical Meaning and Geert Wilders and Racism

Thomas Ross posts on Fridays here, as another reminder to you. I appreciate what he does. You would be hard pressed to name another independent Baptist or unaffiliated that has done the work and the kind of work that he has done. I'm happy if you commend him for it. If you want to know the sheer magnitude of what he's done at such a young age, look over at his Faithsaves.Net. Use his resources. They're good.

Sometimes I want to post something here at my own blog, but I don't want to stomp on or preempt something else either Thomas or I have written. I want them to get two days of consideration before moving to something else. There are seven days in a week, as you know (because God created the seven day week -- see Genesis 1), so three posts doesn't divide up evenly at two days a post. For that reason, on late Saturday night, I have used and will use to offer something I've seen that I want others to consider. It might not rise to a full post, but it is a kind of partial post (I wonder if you can send a partial post through the mail -- probably using the Partial Post division). Some of the time, I believe I will start calling these posts, Weekend Observations. They might be one observation or more. Today it is two, and I start with Musical Meaning and then I go to Geert Wilders and Racism.

Musical Meaning

Sentient beings, those who breath and interact with what's happening outside of them, know that music has meaning. History doesn't show a "music doesn't have meaning" position. In general, no one attempts to prove music has meaning through history, because something above a butterfly larvae knows that already. It would appear next to "insult to the intelligence" in the dictionary. Now we have to insult the intelligence, because now appearing for the first time in history, music doesn't have meaning. It was considered first by the people who are supposed to have the most discernment on planet earth, Christians, as being amoral. Music is amoral, music itself can't be judged, according to Christians. Paper or plastic, yes, music, no. This is the world we live in today, so I'm going to talk about it.

People have moved even further than music doesn't have meaning to "if you says it does, then you are a racist" (which dovetails actually with my second observation). People do become very angry when you say that music means something and it means something bad, that is, when you judge their music. They don't want activity that might result in their music being taken away. I've seen fisticuffs break out in a gym over the choice of music, grown men wrestling and punching over musical choice, at the same time, of course, everyone all around denying that music has meaning.

Of course, music has meaning. People like music because it has meaning. People are attracted to music because it has meaning. It has meaning regardless of the words. Of course, it does. Pillbugs (rollie pollies) would be nodding in agreement right now if they could nod.

CNN recently did a big news piece against Vladimir Putin, not because of some special dislike of Putin, even though they are posing like they hate Putin. They are showing the Putin story because they want to keep the Trump-Russia narrative alive to discredit his presidency. It's not news. It's propaganda. To combat that, RT, a Russian news agency mocked the CNN report. RT shows how that CNN uses music. You tell me what you think, starting at about :15 and ending at 1:15.

The change in music totally changes the meaning of the documentary. The music changes what you think of Putin. What do you think music does to God? People get a different view of God and lyrics from the music. It influences their view of God and perverts their affections. They have a god in their imaginations that doesn't match the God of the Bible. Music does that. Everyone again knows what I'm writing here, but I thought the clip above would at least offer an illustration. I wish I could say things are going to change, but churches are addicted to their tunes.

Geert Wilders and Racism

Every time I heard Geert Wilders it was something negative from the media. The United States media wanted him to lose. He was pictured like a flaming radical, right winged fascist type. Anymore you can't trust the media when it says that, but right before the Dutch election, Wilders debated Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister. Watch this clip to get a taste of Wilders.

He is different than the way the U.S. media pictures him. This is why people are using the terminology, "fake news," and for all the "lies" people claim for Trump, the lies come from the media like one big lie, the equivalent of water from a hydrant in sorting through them. Wilders speaks in a reasonable way. He makes sense with his points. He proves what he's talking about with facts. The Prime Minister doesn't treat him in a disrespectful way. When the camera roams into the audience, you see people who are listening in a careful, unemotional way, even while Wilders speaks.

What you hear from Wilders is the truth about Islam, the Quran, and its effect on the Netherlands. He's just telling the truth. Listen closely to the stats he uses. It is his goal to protect his country, to keep his country Dutch actually. By the time you call something an Islamic country, that means it's not going so well and people have died and are dying. That's why people in Europe can sit there and listen soberly, because they know it too. Even the present Prime Minister, who has since won the election, could understand the point.

The U.S. and British media call Wilders a racist, as if a religion is a race. This is a new development in race. Transgender is a race now. Hispanic is a race, even though there are black and white Hispanics. Now religion is a race. People don't blink at these kinds of designations. They are lies or fake news. The militant Moslems in Northern Nigeria, Boko Haram, are black Moslems killing and kidnapping black Christians in the South.

I return you to the thought that Wilders is just telling the truth about a religion. Based on media reports, you'd think Wilders was crazy, but what he says sounds like sound and defensible policy for his nation. If you read his biography at Wikipedia, you don't get the impression that he is off-the-wall at all. Case-in-point as to his validity, because of Wilders positions, his life is more threatened than almost any politician in Europe. His life is so in danger, that his wife can't be with him, his office must be away from all other people and politicians, and he is under non-stop guard. The message is that you are not free in the Netherlands to criticize Islam. Wilders is who our media calls out and not the Moslems in the Netherlands.

As an aside, a President Obama appointed federal judge in Hawaii blocked President Trump's second attempt at the travel ban. Judge Watson based his ruling on the first amendment, not on the law itself, but based upon campaign statements made by Donald Trump in order to judge motive. Even if it were a "Moslem ban," the establishment clause doesn't apply to foreign citizens. I bring this up because the religious liberty of Christians, who are citizens of the United States, is very often not protected by liberal U.S. judges, but Moslems from foreign countries are protected by them. These activist judges do not become active in protecting rights of American Christians, but they protect what are not rights of foreign Moslems. I'll write more about this perhaps in the future.

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About Me

I got lots of learnin when I was in cemetery. I also gots books I try to read. I has preecht throo most of the books of the Bible spositorally. I is marreed and has 4 youngins---3 is gurlz. Me am indipendint Babtist. Pleeez reed my blog.